What We’ve Been Learning This Month: March Edition

In January I decided at the end of each month to share a few of the interesting things we had done and learned in that month.  How embarrassing to forget to do it then in February!  Oops.  But, then again, February does that crazy 28-day thing and the end of the month just crept up on me.  

So here we are at the end of March, and it’s time to share again!  Don’t be surprised if you find a little February learning in the mix…

We did some work on good manners in February, particularly where my boys are concerned.  (Does work in that department ever end?)  But I would truly love to raise a couple of fine young gentlemen, so let the work continue…

In early February we attended a Christians at the Capitol/Homeschool Day at the Capitol event.  There is so much to learn just in visiting the Capitol building, but my oldest daughter also learned more about an exciting event she’ll be taking part in next month.  Preparing for that has had her studying the Constitution, learning more about the General Assembly, writing letters to her state senator and representative, and constructing her own bill.  It’s already been a crash course in state government, with much more learning still to come. 

We also have a friend now running for local office, which has prompted lots of discussion in our family about local issues and the campaign/election process.  We’re fully expecting the learning there to continue through the primaries in May.

My boys spent some time constructing their own Lego stop motion boxes and then used them to create their own stop motion videos.  This is always entertaining, believe me.  Doodle meanwhile completed a couple pieces of artwork, one in acrylics and one a pencil sketch, and entered them in her first art contest.  

Our botany study led us to talk about gymnosperms and then about various non-vascular plants.  (For whatever reason, my kids are now pretty fascinated by lichen, of all things!)  We’ve put some of our botany knowledge to work this week and we now have two new trees in the yard.  It took all of us working together to make that happen!  Now there’s more work to do in the week to come… 

We learned, too, about many of the plants Native Americans used for their medicinal benefits.  We also learned about the benefits of forest fires with videos like this…

 

My husband and I and our daughters also visited the Teach Them Diligently Christian Homeschool Convention in Nashville in March.  I always draw so much inspiration and so many practical ideas from the sessions, not to mention I come home with lots of fun new materials.  

One of the ideas I brought home from TTD inspired me to start doing a little map study with my kids.  Those who have learned to label the 50 states have now moved on to begin studying Europe.  

We returned to our state capital again in March so my husband could give the invocation in the state senate chambers at the invitation of our senator who is also Senate President pro tempore.  It was a pretty big honor, and something our kids won’t soon forget.  We were privileged to be welcomed on the floor and watch some of the session in a very up-close manner.  As much as we have studied state government and how it functions, nothing could ever take the place of being this close to the action for ourselves!

And finally, we learned that it can still snow in Kentucky in late March.  Actually, I knew that already, but I don’t think anybody really expected our biggest snow of the season, 8 inches, to come on March 21st.  The kids didn’t get a snow day, (because as a homeschooling mom, I’d rather have sun days than snow ones,) but once their core subjects were completed, they got to enjoy what I hope is the last snow of the season, and they built forts and played the snowball version of Capture the Flag.  I’m glad they enjoyed it, because by the end of the next day the snow was almost entirely gone.  

Now I’m hoping to learn about how warm, sunny, and GREEN it can be in April!

 

 

This post was shared at:  

Modest Monday Link Up, Mommy Moments, Inspire Me Monday, Inspiration Monday, A Wise Woman Builds Her House Linkup, The Homemaking Party, Friendship Friday